John Cornyn gives Todd Akin a 24-hour ultimatum: We want you out!

John Cornyn

John Cornyn proudly wears the conservative badge. In the last round of congressional ratings, he was tied for the top spot as the most conservative member of the Senate.

He’s also a proud Republican. As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he is the man with the mission of recapturing the Senate for the GOP.

But Cornyn’s ideology and partisan loyalty don’t mean he will stand behind every Republican on every occasion.

On Monday, in a desperate attempt to keep his party in contention for a Missouri Senate seat against the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the nation, Cornyn did just about everything he could do to force congressman Todd Akin, winner of his party’s Senate nomination, to drop out of the race.

Rep. Todd Akin (Official photo)

Akin, who represents one of the state’s most conservative districts, created a political tempest when he told an interviewer that women who experience “a legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant.

“From what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

The Missouri election is the keystone to the GOP’s strategy to win a Senate majority in November. Republicans need to pick up four more Senate seats than they lose in 2012 to reach 51 seats, a bare majority in the 100-seat Senate. If Republican Mitt Romney is elected president, the party could gain control with a net gain of three seats.

But Cornyn and his National Republican Senatorial Committee staff made it clear to Akin today that it is in the best interests of the Republican Party that he withdraw from the Senate race. The Texas senator reinforced that message with a personal call to the embattled Missouri congressman.

“It has been communicated to the congressman from the committee that by staying in this race, he is putting not just this seat but the GOP’s prospects for a Senate majority at great risk,” said a Republican source with direct knowledge of the conversations. “And if he does choose to go forward, the NRSC will not be investing in his candidacy.”

But the Republicans have far more at stake than a Senate seat. The Akin controversy overshadowed presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s economic message as he attempted to focus attention on the party’s national convention, which opens next Monday in Tampa. What’s more, it revived Democratic talk of a Republican “war against women.” And it highlighted the fact that Akin and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan had teamed up on a failed proposal that would have narrowed the definition of rape.

Until his self-destructive moment, Akin had been running ahead of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in polls after conservative and Republican groups spent tens of millions of dollars pummeling her with attack ads. Cornyn’s NRSC had committed $5 million for general election commercials.

Cornyn wasn’t the only Republican trying to push Akin to the exit door. Romney called the comments “inexcusable.” The conservative National Review, in an editorial, told him to step down. Two GOP senators, conservative Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Scott Brown of Massachusetts, echoed those views.

If Akin does not withdraw from the race by tomorrow, the GOP would be unable to replace him on the ballot with a candidate of its choice. Erick Erickson, founder of redstate.com, said Akin would surely lose the election, if he remains in the race.

“I don’t think he can get through the noise now,” Erickson said on CNN.

Publicly, Cornyn chose his words carefully.

“Congressman Akin’s statements were wrong, offensive, and indefensible,” he said in a statement release by the campaign committee. “I recognize that this is a difficult time for him, but over the next 24 hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party, and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service.”

Akin also chose his words carefully, saying he had made a “very serious error.” But he stopped short of saying he would heed Cornyn’s call.

Also contributing to this report was Stewart Powell of the Washington bureau.